Mintos review

This Minto's review is based on my experiences after a little more than 1 year of investing (November 2018) in Mintos.

Who is Mintos?

The Latvian based company Mintos is a crowdfunding investment marketplace that connects lending companies with investors. Their platform was launched in start 2015 and currently serves 59 loan originators and 94413 investors from 69 countries. Total more than 14 million euros have been funded since the start.

My personal review

More then a year ago I made my first investment of 360 Eur in Mintos – this was my second investment in crowdfunding, my fist was Bondera in October 2017.

My impression on the platform has been very good. The returns I made have been solid and so far I haven´t lost money on defaulted loans, but be Shure to choose Buyback guarantee on all loans.

In my first period, I checked the progress almost daily, just to be sure that I got my returns and that my auto-investment settings were working.

From my first 13 months of investing, I have an average net annual return on 12.98% across all loans! Most loans have interest rates from 9% to 13% and the average return on Mintos is 11,6%

I think that is quite good, and a lot more then the banks have to offer in return.

Click to enlarge

As you can see in the picture, I got some secondary market transactions, campaign rewards, and some service fees.

Secondary market transactions fees are because I use the possibility to invest in loans that other investors want to sell. In that transaction, I sometimes pay fees upfront to other investors to overtake their loans. I do this for 3 reasons one is to spread my investments in smaller chunks, second not having cash waiting, both to be invested and waiting for the loan to be out of its grace period (All new loans has a grace period) And third because I sometimes get a better interest rate.

My Campaign Rewards was the money back (up to 5%) from MOGO a Minto's loan provider.

Service Fees is a fee for currency converting.

What is a buy-back guarantee?

On the primary market in Mintos, you can choose between a buy-back guarantee or no buyback guarantee. The difference (if you choose buy-back guarantee) is an assurance from the loan originator, that if a borrower doesn't comply the payments for 60 days, the loan originator will buy-back the invested principal and your interest for the period you held the loan, including your overdue days.

I don't think it makes it risk-free, but in my opinion, it takes some of the risks off from the borrower and moves it to the loan originator. But you still need to ensure that the loan originator has a profitable business as the risk lays there now.

But how does it work? Loan originator arranges loans at very high-interest rates (30%-70%). They sell the shares to investors for a much lower interest rate and score the difference between the real interest rate and the interest you receive as an investor right now buy-back guarantee loan on Minto's platform is currently 12%. For the loan originators, they profit from the differences in % without having to use their own cash, and their job is to get cash back from bad payers.

What if a Loan originator goes bankrupt? It would be stupid to think that all loan originators will do well. Crowdlending is a new investment area and I'm sure that some Loan originator will not perform well, but I have yet to see it after 1,5 year of investment, but I think it eventually will happen, so be aware. I read different places that Mintos has experienced problems with EUROCENT, read more on the Mintos blog Here.

Mintos on autopilot

It´s possible to set up an auto-invest function on Mintos which means that you don´t manually have to pick loans every time you have money on your account. How to choose is up to you but, I will show you how I made mine.

I only invest in loans originators with a rating from A-B, and where they pay interest for both defaulted and delayed loans, be aware that If you set the interest rate to 11% and 16% loans are available you could get 12%,13% interest.

Secondary market: I haven´t made a secondary market strategy yet I just to pick loans with buyback and normally small amounts when I log into my account, (a Secondary market is a place where you can sell your loans to other investors, with a margin either plus or minus).

Here you can see my auto-invest picks:

Mintos closure

I think that one of the advantages with Mintos is possible the options to diversifying your money, with many loans and Loan Originators. They have a long history, good support an easy to use the platform. The disadvantage with so many options could be difficulties for a new investor as it´s hard to know what to invest in, and possible you would choose only for the highest yield. You need to adjust your auto-setup when new originators, new campaigns or interest rates change. Otherwise, you may experience money just sitting in your account because loans don´t fit your criteria and you miss out on higher interest.

But if you looking Crowdlending platform with a long history and a lot of diversification options there’s no way around Mintos. Historically they have had some generous buyback campaigns, and because of that Mintos is a must-have platform, in your portfolio.

Disclaimer: I am a Minto's affiliate. Which means I can offer my readers a 1% bonus on all investments made in the first 90 days, but only if you sign up with this link. Then we both receive a bonus. My investing with Mintos started before deciding to be an affiliate.

FAQ

How long will it take to transfer money into my bank account?

Payments within the eurozone do not usually take more than one (1) business day; depending on the time of your withdrawal request, you should receive the transferred money within the same day or within a maximum of two (2) business days. Transfers outside the eurozone may take longer, depending on the bank.

Will I be charged for a withdrawal?

Mintos charges nothing for a withdrawal, but your bank may charge additional fees for transfers.

How safe are investments?

The biggest risk is associated with possible credit losses from investments. The following measures have been taken by Mintos and loan originators to mitigate the risk:

1. All loans are issued according to the established policies of the loan originators, which take into account the borrower's ability to repay the loan.

2. For certain types of loans (e.g. mortgage loans or vehicle loans), the client has offered collateral to be used to recover the loan in the case of default, thereby lowering credit loss risk.

3. For certain loans (e.g. business loans), other credit enhancements are obtained, such as a personal guarantee.

4. For certain loans, the loan originator has provided a buyback guarantee, which means that if the loan is delayed by more than 60 days, the loan originator repurchases the investment for the nominal value of the principal and the accrued interest till the date of repurchase.

You can mitigate risks by diversifying - making fractional investments in several loans across different borrowers, loan types, loan originators, and geographies.